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Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

Hi,

I bought one of the Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift) Quadcopter Frames (585mm) from Hobby King. For only $32, it seemed like an awesome value with excellent quality parts. In fact, it is so inexpensive that you can buy a second frame for spares! Although the photo shows the H.A.L. in a "+" configuration, it can also be set up as an "X" configuration. I plan to use the "X" configuration since this is not a problem for the KK2 controller board and it keeps the front open for the camera. The two forward props can then be a different color to aid in orientation.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I'll be using the following base equipment to get it flying. You need both CW and CCW rotation props, two of each. I'm not sure if I will prefer the 9x4.7 or 10x4.5 props so I bought 2 sets of each rotation in black and green colors. The green props will go on the front of my Quad set up in the "X" configuration.

The NTM Prop Drive 35 Series Accessory Pack has a mating adapter with a 6mm shaft that mates with the GemFan 9x4.7 props without drilling. The props have a 6mm hole drilled in the front side of the hub, and an 8mm hole on the back side of the hub to accept a prop shaft adapter ring. Also included with the GemFan props is a set of four 8mm OD adapter rings that step down the center hole of the prop to allow it fit on 3mm, 4mm, 5mm or 6mm motor shafts.

The Castle Creations Phoenix and ICE series of ESCs have a fast slew rate to work well with Quads. Do not use the lower cost Thunderbird series of ESCs because the slew rate is to slow for good Quad stability and performance. Other lower cost ESCs may have similar performance degredation.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

The damping pivot can move in two axes and is designed for a camera gimbal without stabilizer/servo control in mind. (like Aerial Video) It includes a special mechanism filled with damping oil inside that can also play the role of a damper. At only $49.95 for some pretty nice craftmanship, I couldn't resist trying one of these out myself.

The thread also has some nice videos of the H.A.L. being tested for both flight stability and camera stability.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

Has it flown yet? I'm curious what kind of flight time youcan get. I did an analysis based on Newton's momentum theorem and using the energy density of batteries available off the shelf I determined that any electric poweredvehicle using vertical thrust to maintain flight can only achieve about 10-15 minutes max flight time. Curious if that was accurate.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I started working on the H.A.L. again now that my ST450 project seems to be working fine. It was a good first quad to learn on.

I mounted my HK Power Distribution board to the top of the H.A.L. inverted. This allowed the main power cable to run underneath and the foam bottom to be on top. My KK2 LCD board was first mounted in Chris Moon's protective Delrin case and then on top of the Power Distribution board. I added a layer of foam to the bottom of the KK2 case using double-side carpet tape. the square foam piece was pulled off of the original KK2 shipping container.

My Castle Creations Phoenix-25 ESC motor wires were lengthened 11" before running them through the H.A.L. arm tubes. Note that the latest firmware for the Phoenix and ICE series ESCs comes with a new "Multirotor" mode setting.

Although I don't see anything wrong with using the stock H.A.L. landing gear, I acquired a DJI F550 Landing Gear Set from AeroXcraft so I will be using that instead.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

It looks like I had the assembly wrong on the H.A.L. motors. I did my original motor assembly based upon the recessed holes for the flat head screws. The NTM Prop Drive Series Motors reverses things due to the nicely machines prop adapter that comes in the accessory pack.

Here is the correct assembly using the optional no-payload landing gear. It is much cleaner!

I need to use my own M3x6 screws to mount the motor from the other side. The rest of the hardware comes with either the H.A.L. or the optional landing gear set. Although I am using the DJI F550 Landing Gear Set (shown above) I think I will keep the optional H.A.L. gear set installed to protect the motor in case of a hard crash. The machining of both the H.A.L. and the optional gear set are excellent!

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

Here are a few options for the Turnigy H.A.L. landing gear. The first two photos show the optional Turnigy gear if you are not planning to have a payload like a camera or gimbal. The middle photo is using the stock gear, which seemed surprisingly nice!

The last two photos are my DJI F550 Landing Gear Set with the $50 damping pivot camera mount. I plan to use a 4s 5AH LiPo pack to offset the camera and FPV setup. The aluminum bars slide to achieve a perfect balance between camera gear and Lipo pack.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

My H.A.L. was Ready-To-Fly at 5.8lbs including the 22oz 4s 5AH 30C PolyQuest pack and about 16oz of ballast on the gimbal side. The ballast will eventually get replaced with my FPV/OSD/HD Camera setup.

If all goes well, I have some Graupner 10x5 e-Props to replace the GemFan 10x4.7 props for improved stability. I'm using a Spektrum AR7000 dual-receiver. One receiver is mounted on top of the NAZA FC and the other is below the frame on the landing gear. In this manner, the metal surfaces should never block the DSM2 transmitter signal. Note that the VU is mounted on a landing leg for easy access to the USB plug and viewing the multi-color bright LED for status.

I also have a RTH LOS Failsafe set up using the preset failsafe and the IOC on another 3-position switch. We'll see what happens...it should be interesting!

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

My first hover test with the NAZAfied H.A.L. was a success! It hovered in place with only a few trim clicks. I mean it stayed put until I told it to move around with the sticks! I literally put the transmitter down and picked up the camera for a few photos. They came out dark due to the pending rain. I kept the H.A.L. low because my backyard has a 20' canopy of trees.

I thought my old Enerland 5AH packs may be weak because the light kept flashing red. It turned out that my voltage alarms were set too high so we'll see what happens on the next flights at the park.

The red landing gear area and green props are the front of the quad. When I switch to the all black Graupner e-props, I'll only have the landing gear for orientation so I may need to add something else.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I got some better photos today in the sun with my Graupner 10x5 e-Props. The 6mm-8mm Graupner adapter spacer (197.60) provides an excellent fit from my motor shaft to the prop hole.

I could easily maneuver between the trees and rotate 360 degrees in GPS mode. I haven't done my compass calibration yet so I am not sure where that will become a benefit.

I'm using a 4s 5AH Lipo pack on my 5.8lb quad. I have around a pound of ballast above my gimbal to balance the quad without the FPV camera setup. I am not sure of the actual capacity of these older packs but I got about a 5 minute flight before the flashing red lights gave me an auto-land.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

After a few more successful flights last weekend, I decided to mount my FPV setup last used in my Skywalker project. The setup is a FlyCamOne HD camera, 900MHz video transmitter, and ImmersionRC EzOSD. The EzOSD has its own GPS antenna, which is the square brown component. The rubber duck antenna is for the 900MHz video transmitter.

Everything mounted nicely and I could maintain my CG by placing the small 3s 1200mAh Lipo pack for the video Tx. directly under the H.A.L. bottom plywood board that holds the landing gear. The main Dean's Ultra power plugs right into the EzOSD current monitor board and the other side plugs into the main 4s 5AH Lipo pack.

In this manner, I can choose not to use the EzOSD by simply plugging the Lipo pack into the main H.A.L. power plug like in my initial flight testing.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I did a quick test of the photo snapshot capability of my FlyCamOne. Most cameras have this feature so it was fun to swap photos of my H.A.L. and me taking shots of each other. It was both cool and a bit creepy at the same time!

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I made several changes to my H.A.L. setup and then balanced it using the Great Planes CG Machine. One of the nice things about the DJI F550 Landing Gear Set at AeroXcraft is that you can swap out the 1/2" aluminum tubes if you need longer ones. I picked up a 3' tube at Home Depot for a few dollars and cut it in half to increase the tubes for my new battery and camera mount scheme.

My new Turnigy 4s 5.8AH pack (22oz) can be easily installed or swapped out using a few Velcro One-Wrap straps to squeeze the battery mount walls together. Both the battery and gimbal mounts can slide to maintain the CG. The pack weight resides on the strong 1/2" aluminum tubes. I'm getting 8 minute flights now on my 6lb Quad setup with capacity to spare so I will try 9 minutes next.

I also installed the stock H.A.L. landing gear which is a series of carbon rods and plastic joiners. The stock gear weighs almost nothing and can handle a tremendous hit directly underneath so if the quad drops 3' or 4' for any reason, it is much tougher now.

The Graupner 10x5 e-Props have been working very well and I have not balanced them yet.

I'm still using my FlyCamOne HD camera because it has higher resolution than the camera that came with the Predator V2. The FlyCamOne HD camera can also record video on board to a micro SIMM card.

I made a video of my initial testing and sized it for the Web. Although it is just a starting point and there is much room for improvement, I was happy with the FlyCamOne video as far as it having no wavy lines or jerking motion. The full size HD version looks pretty nice. Once I get more confident, I can fly the H.A.L. using my new Fatshark goggles and center the video based upon the angle down. I can also see the need for a tilt mechanism. Iām still learning the NAZA Flight Controller features and keeping things safe while I learn and play with the video.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I tested the NAZA-fied H.A.L. in 20mph winds about 150' up. At first I was quite nervous but I rapidly gained confidence when I saw how well it performed. In fact, I could say that the strong wind had little effect on my flight other than a louder noise of the props beating against the air.

I did discover that my free-standing gimbal gets blown to the side when the wind is strong enough. I had a chance to test out my FlyCamOne Camera tilt modification and it worked great! Eventually, I will upgrade both my camera and gimbal. I would like to use the NAZA 2-axis gimbal stabilization that is built-in to the FC.

I'll post a video of the flight soon. My pocket DVR hasn't arrived yet so I couldn't record the OSD information but we did have a ground camera so we'll see the perspective from both ends.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

Here is the video we took of the H.A.L. in 20mph wind. My top altitude was about 150' and the gimbal was blown to the side when I got above the tree line. The video is downsized for the Web. Right from liftoff, you can see that the wind is blowing my gimbal sideways. My previous flights were in much calmer conditions so I never saw this issue. In this much wind, the quad does tilt slightly into the wind to maintain position. I first noticed this leaning effect on my Parrot AR.Drone.

I spun around at about 150' high just to see if the quad would falter but it didn't seem to care about position. You can see the old Erie Canal that was built in the 1800s. I will likely fly down the canal in future tests because it is void of boats this time of year. At the end of the video I cruised around a field a few times at a low altitude before landing.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I decided to buy this QUADframe GoPro 2-Axis Gimbal for $70 from RC Dude Hobbies. The new V2 version is a completely new design with less small parts like screws, washers, much more easy to assemble, and much better stabilization.

The first 20 seconds of this video shows how the gimbal compensation works with the NAZA.

For a relatively low cost, I can take advantage of the built-in NAZA stabilization with a well designed gimbal.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I had a successful test flight with my new QUADframe GoPro 2-Axis Gimbal. I needed to mount my FlyCamOne HD camera under the gimbal platform so I could connect the video output cable and then set up the NAZA gimbal controls for proper gain and rotation. My gimbal used a pair of Hitec HS-5065MG digital servos which can handle an output frequency of 400Hz.

I found it easy to set up the gimbal gains on the NAZA by using the FPV video link while I was connected to the DJI Assistant Gimbal screen. I ended up with Automatic Control Gains set to 50 each and limited the servo travels to +- 700. The Center Travel Limits are used for fine tuning the gimbal platform offset. The right slider lever on my JR x9503 transmitter was used to control the gimbal pitch offset via the AUX3 channel.

The gimbal properly compensated for the stiff 15-20mph winds in my test flight about 150' high. I used my ImmersionRC EzOSD and will post a video soon.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

Here is my second H.A.L. test flight video in strong 20m.p.h wind. There were some wavy portions of the video which may be due to either the gimbal gain, wind, or soft mounting of the FlyCamOne camera. I'll try my next test flight in calmer conditions to see if it changes.

The video has scenes from three perspectives; Canon ground camera, FlyCamOne on-board, and a pocket DVR recording the EzOSD and on-board camera from my Fatshark 5.8GHz link. The ground recorder is the $118 DV02 portable D1 AV recorder from FoxTechFPV.com. They sell an adapter cable for $3 that connects the DVR cable to the FatShark goggles. The combination makes for a very compact ground station.

The DVR ground video was darker than my FlyCamOne HD camera so I need to look into that issue. Also, my scene transitions were not working well on this video so bare with the poor fades.

The EzOSD information was interesting. It showed that I am drawing around 40amps or 10amps per motor. My maximum height was about 150 feet near the end of the movie. The 97% in the lower right corner is my unconnected RSSI value which currently has no meaning. The lighter font screen information comes from the FlyCamOne HD camera (recording resolution, recording time, green battery indication, SD memory) The EzOSD information can be turned on or off via my Gear Switch.

I flew partly using the FatShark goggles and partly by normal vision. At all times, I made sure that nothing was under the H.A.L. for safety. After a few flights in some pretty stiff winds, I have more confidence that this is a stable platform so I can venture out over the Erie Canal that was built in the 1800s.

My flight times are a solid 9 minutes with about 15% capacity remaining in my 4s 5800mAh 30C Turnigy pack.

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

I did some testing with my H.A.L. and it seems that the GoPro gimbal is really optimized for a GoPro and amplifies the wobble when using my FlyCamOne due to the fulcrum offset.

By placing the H.A.L. on my G.P. CG Machine, I could easily move the pitch of the quad and observe both the camera and video stability. Since the fulcrum is not optimal for the FlyCamOne camera, it amplifies the servo step size. I think it's time for a GoPro!

RE: Turnigy H.A.L. (Heavy Aerial Lift)

My H.A.L. was outfitted with the HK Multi Function LED Strip which has 9 different LED modes controlled by a spare switch on the transmitter. The combination of front LEDs and the rear plastic ball drastically improved my flight orientation at a distance.

I also added some foam walls to protect my 5.8AH 4s Lipo pack from the 35 degree temperature. It seemed to work well for the entire 9-minute flight. I also changed my 5.8GHz FPV antennas to the circular polarized SpiroNET Antenna Set from ImmersionRC. The circular polarization reduces interference and unwanted multi-path signals.

I haven't gotten my GoPro2 camera yet but I will post some video from by backyard flight.